The mosaics of the church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki
The Saint Demetrius Basilica in Thessaloniki is one of the oldest and most prestigious churches in the city, once the second most important Byzantine city after Constantinople. The cult of Saint Demetrios was widely popular in the Middle Ages, and the basilica, built where the martyrdom of the saint was believed to have occurred in 306, was an important sanctuary with lavish decorations.
The creation of the mosaics of Saint Demetrios.
After the latest reconstruction of the church around 500, giving it its present form as a three-aisle basilica, a significant program of mosaic decoration was developed during the 6th and 7th centuries, until the rise of Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730.
These mosaics are not only a testimony to the development of early Byzantine art but also represent the most important collection of patron portraits produced during this period. The mosaics were commissioned by the wealthy inhabitants of Thessaloniki as a form of ex-voto, to commemorate their patron saint Demetrios and his companions, and to thank them for previous interventions on their behalf.
They also portray the elite of early Byzantine Thessaloniki and illustrate how their patronage contributed to the construction of an elite identity at the time.
The mosaics of Hagios Demetrios: An history of rediscovery and loss.
Since 1492-93, following the conquest of Thessaloniki by the Turks about 50 years earlier, the church had become a mosque, and the Christian decorations, including the mosaics, were covered. The mosaics were rediscovered only in 1907.
Unfortunately, they were largely destroyed by the disastrous fire that ravaged most of Thessaloniki in 1917, leaving the church in ruins.
Some records of the monument were produced before the disaster, but they are not exhaustive. Nevertheless, one sequence destroyed during the fire is documented through photographs taken shortly after 1907, as well as through drawings and watercolors from the same period.
However, the excavation and consolidation of the church after 1917 revealed a few additional mosaic panels that had remained concealed behind Ottoman plaster. Additionally, a niche in the outer south wall of the apse retains some fragmentary mosaic, along with the remnant of a votive inscription.
The surviving mosaic panels of the basilica of Saint Demetrios.
The panel of saint Demetrios and the founders of the church.
One of the mosaic show saint Demetrius with officials responsible for the restoration of the church (the ktetors, founders). An inscription below the images glorifies heaven for saving the people of Thessalonica from a pagan Slavic raid in 615.
Panel of a beardless saint and angels.
On the west wall, in the inner north aisle, the upper left corner of a panel is visible. Framed with red and white triangles, it still shows the upper torso of a youthful, nimbed saint dressed in a chlamys with a tablion, standing against a sky filled with clouds.
Above the saint, a half-figure of an angel blowing a golden trumpet appears, while the wings of a second angel can be seen at the right edge of the fragment.
Panel of a beardless saint with two figures.
On the west wall in the inner south aisle, the preserved right portion of a panel depicts a nimbed saint, likely Saint Demetrios, in an orant posture with golden hands. He stands before a structure that may represent the silver ciborium, a focal point of his cult in the church.
To the saint’s right, an adult male nudges a youth toward him, both figures extending covered hands in reverence. This gesture is mirrored by a fragmentary figure on the left. The frame features gold lozenges set against a greenish-blue background, bordered by an inner gold rim and an outer white rim.
Panel of a saint with two children.
On the west face of the northeast sanctuary pier, a mosaic depicts a beardless saint wearing a chlamys with a tablion, decorated with trefoils set within lozenges.
The saint rests his left hand on the shoulder of a small child with covered, raised hands. Below the saint’s right hand, raised in a blessing gesture, stands a shorter child, also with covered and raised hands.
The background is a green surface, possibly representing a wall, with colored bands along the top, including a thick red stripe adorned with alternating ovals and vertical lines. A piece of drapery is visible, and at the top appears what seems to be the roofline of a structure, possibly the ciborium shown in the previous panel.
Panel of a saint and four ecclesiastics.
A badly damaged panel on the tribelon wall, facing the inner north aisle, shows a nimbed male figure, presumably Saint Demetrios, flanked by four ecclesiastics—two on each side—standing before a curtain. Demetrios has his arms around the shoulders of the two nearest figures, both dressed as bishops. The remaining two figures appear to be a priest on the right and a deacon on the left. This character reappears on the east face of the southeast sanctuary pier and in a medallion set within the inner north arcade sequence.
The faces of the central figures have been removed, but enough remains to confirm that Demetrios had a circular nimbus, while the others had square halos.
Demetrios’ chlamys is adorned with a star-filled medallion and trilobes with basal ribbons, echoing variants of the fabric design worn by Saint Sergios on the southeast sanctuary pier.
Sources.
Leslie Brubaker, Elites and patronage in early Byzantium: The evidence from Hagios Demetrios at Thessalonike.
